The country has had a decisive influence on Europe's history from the very beginning. Even the first Persian empire 2,500 years ago boasted of the omnipotence of its kings and contradicted the Greeks' love of freedom. Generations of German high school students agonized over the great battles: Marathon (490 BC), Thermopylae (480 BC), and finally 333 - at Issus' brawl. It was always the struggle of noble Hellenes against despotic Persians, of occidental high culture against oriental backwardness.

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